The Portland Plan: Add Your Voice to the Mix

Thanks to Central Portland Families for reminding us that this huge effort is underway and there are loads of public input opportunities this month - from Monday 5.12 to Saturday 5.31 - all across the city.  And they even invited the kids!  A great opportunity to inject the family angle - whatever yours may be - into this process to create a family-friendly Portland in the next several decades.  Here's the scoop, in the city's words:

Pushing the planning envelope and building its visionary urban design legacy, the City of Portland is taking the lead on sustainable, equitable and economically viable long-range planning.  Over the next three years, the Bureau of Planning will be updating its 1980 Comprehensive Plan and the 1988 Central City Plan in an effort called the Portland Plan. 

The Portland Plan is an inclusive, citywide effort to guide the physical, economic, social, cultural, and environmental development of Portland over the next 30 years.  The plan will build on the work the community did through visionPDX, which captured and fleshed out our shared values of sustainability, equity and accessibility, and community connectedness and distinctiveness.

Get Involved.  Stay Involved.  Attend a meeting, join a committee, whatever works.  At the very least, stay informed without lifting a finger.  Yup, you can RSS the Portland Plan.  What can't you RSS these days?

Not so vague, please! The planning process will focus on seven critical issues, including climate change, affordability and accessibility, human health and safety, economic prosperity and creative viability, distinctive and well-designed places, high-performing natural systems, and new ways and means.  It'll include new policies and objectives that guide the city's decision-making and investment in transportation, infrastructure, housing and economic development.  The basic elements will be: an urban form plan, a housing plan, an economic development policy, a public facilities plan, the Central Portland plan, and a financial constraints analysis.  Sounds like a great read, huh mamas?

Some final inspiration: From our mayor.... "As a community, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the future of our city.  The global trends of climate change, a worldwide economy, the growing equity gap and population shifts require that we proactively define how our City looks and works for this generation and those to come."

[thx to WikiCommons for the great pic]

Comments

[olivia]

Indeed it caught my eye to see the email from PPS entitled "WHAT DO YOU WANT PORTLAND TO LOOK LIKE?"

If we have issues, we need to chime in. There are plenty of opportunities to do so. Here was the email from PPS:

"The Portland Bureau of Planning is holding neighborhood meetings to determine how residents want the city to develop in the next 25 years. The result, the Portland Plan, will include an updated and expanded
Comprehensive Plan and Central City Plan.

Upcoming meetings include two in PPS schools:
* 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22, Richmond School cafeteria, 2276 S.E. 41st Ave.
* 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, Lincoln High School cafeteria, 1600 S.W. Salmon St.
For other dates and locations, go to
http://www.portlandonline.com/portlandplan/index.cfm?c=47277.

Also planned is a “youth event” called Build Your Own Portland from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the Montavilla Community Center, 8219 N.E. Glisan St.

PPS leaders will participate in an all-day Portland Plan summit Friday, June 6. Two community summits will follow on Saturday, June 14: 9 a.m. to noon at Floyd Light Middle School, 10800 S.E. Washington; and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Portland State University’s Smith Ballroom, 1825 S.W.
Broadway.

For more information, go to www.portlandonline.com/portlandplan "